sustentation
Americannoun
-
maintenance in being or activity; the sustaining of life through vital processes.
-
provision with means or funds for upkeep.
-
means of sustaining life; sustenance.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sustentation
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin sustentātiōn- (stem of sustentātiō ) an upholding, equivalent to sustentāt ( us ) (past participle of sustentāre, frequentative of sustinēre to sustain ) + -iōn- -ion
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Soon Premier Mussolini ascended this mighty sustentation, planted himself on an imperial-seeming musnud.
From Time Magazine Archive
Deriving its power of sustentation from the gas contained in the gas-bag, the free balloon is spherical in form.
From The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 3 Atrebates to Bedlis by Various
The meteoric, or "dynamical," theory of solar sustentation was expounded by him before the British Association in 1853.
From A Popular History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth Century Fourth Edition by Clerke, Agnes M. (Agnes Mary)
Thorold Rogers justly remarks that the strength of communism lies in the misconduct of administrations, the sustentation of odious and unjust privileges and the support of what are called vested interests.
From The Railroad Question A historical and practical treatise on railroads, and remedies for their abuses by Larrabee, William
There remains, then, as the only intelligible rationale of solar sustentation, Helmholtz's shrinkage theory.
From A Popular History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth Century Fourth Edition by Clerke, Agnes M. (Agnes Mary)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
